Once more, it would appear, the frequently diverging polarities of politics and wildlife management policy are poised to clash in the chambers of Colorado’s Parks and Wildlife Commission. And as is so often the outcome of such conflicts, it seems the humble Colorado sportsman is the one who stands to lose.

At issue at Thursday’s commission meeting in Frisco is a proposed overhaul to the existing Ranching for Wildlife (RFW) program as it applies to bighorn sheep. And while few hunters may know the details of the current program, much less the proposed changes, each of the 14,838 hunters who applied for the 252 bighorn licenses in Colorado last year would do well to pay attention to how Thursday’s votes are cast.

It goes without saying that these top-tier tags are difficult to come by. Of those who apply, most will never get the opportunity to hunt a bighorn sheep in their lifetime, unless they are willing to pay a premium for it. And while such opportunities don’t come cheap, they may soon come more often.

Should it be approved, the newly proposed Private Land Access Program for bighorn sheep is certain to expand the flagging RFW program for several reasons, not all of them bad. Yet the evidence suggests that a primary reason for the sudden overhaul offering newfound incentive to potential participants is rooted in politics, which as we’ve all learned by now is rooted in money.

Exhibit A, as long as we’re examining evidence, is presented as the pile of money amounting to $40,000 or more for the transfer of a single private bighorn sheep hunting opportunity allotted to one ranch through the RFW partnership. The current arrangement allows one Colorado public-draw hunter an opportunity to hunt the same property for every private hunt that occurs.

The exception to that rule is found on Louis Bacon’s Trinchera Blanca Ranch in southern Colorado, a model of wildlife habitat and conservation efforts that has earned accolades from the head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and even the Secretary of the Interior. Almost 25 years ago, before the RFW program existed, Trinchera also earned a 9-to-1 split of private bighorn hunting tags over public. That agreement, coincidentally, is set to expire Dec. 31, 2015.

Trinchera is among a handful of ranches to express interest in participation in a new program, especially if the current 1-to-1 private-to-public license ratio is bolstered to the suggested ratio of 3-to-1. At the existing ratio, CPW staffers say, they’ll pass.

It’s widely viewed that the 170,000-acre Trinchera has done more for wildlife than any other ranch in Colorado. As a result, it garners a degree of political clout.

Increased participation in the program would probably incur a modest increase in public hunting opportunity as well, yet those whose interest is vested solely in the public resource of wildlife and the hunters who provide the vast majority of its funding backbone consider the proposed threefold increase in private ram licenses under a new, expanded program nothing short of a slap in the face.

“We cannot fathom how a proposed 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 allocation could be viewed by anyone as equitable to sportsmen in the state,” former Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society president Terry Meyers told the commission in May. “CPW is proposing to trade a commodity worth $120,000 to $150,000 in exchange for providing access for a single public hunter.”

The root of the concern is the continued loss of the public resource to private interests, particularly through a program that does little or nothing to benefit wild sheep. There is no requirement for participating ranches to improve bighorn habitat and, frankly, little habitat management required.

But it doesn’t take much imagination to see similar programs creeping into other coveted big game hunting scenarios, including moose, the most difficult license to draw in the state. As a result, several other wildlife and sportsmen’s conservation groups also are opposed to the Private Land Access Program as it is currently proposed for bighorn sheep.

“We feel like the existing proposal attempts to appease all landowners in the state who potentially qualify for the program, at a great and unacceptable loss to sportsmen in the state,” said Meyers, who serves as a representative on CPW’s Sportsmen’s Roundtable.

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